Niektóre aspekty myśli teologicznej św. Pawła i św. Jana

Abstract

We have pointed only to a fewfrom among the many theological problems touched upon by St Paul and St John. And thus, taking under consideration the coincepts of Creation and Revelation which are presented in the Old Testament as correlative although different aspects, we see that St John stresses Revelation, while St Paul accientuaties Creation. The problem of sin as presented by St Paul acquires a catastrophis character, while St John gives it a quieter one, as the rejection of truth, light and faith (Jn 15, 22). St John lacks the antinomy and the accent of fear, noticeable with St Paul (cf Rm 7). Salvation is for St John a matter of experience and an actual reality (Jn 5, 24), but for St Paul a matter of the future. The problem of justificaticm, so dear to St Paul, is not a matter of cognition, but of an interior renewal of main. St John gives a conception of justification very close to that of judgment relegated by the Father to the Son and performed by the manifestation of light (Jn 3, 19). Treating of the concept of law, John draws on the old Testament conception, understanding it as an expression of God's will directed towards man and inciting him to obedience to God. St John stresses the informative element of law, as giving testimony to Christ (Jn 5, 39). Law has also this informative character for St Paul, but in the sense of moral information which leads to justice (Rm 7, 12). The apostle opposes the law of the Old Covenant to the law of the Spirit (2 Cor 3, 7; Rm 8, 2). For him law is revealed as one of the stages of the saving plan of God preparing a new economy (Gal 3, 24). The law vanishes in the new creation, to give way to the „law of faith” (Rm 3, 27), „the law of Christ” (Gal 6, 2), the law of the Spirit (Rm 8, 2). It is necessary to note that in his doctrine on the Holy Spirit St John presents some of its points more clearly than St Paul. E.g. the Person of the Holy Spirit is presented in a clearer fashion in the Fourth Gospel (Jn 14, 26; 15, 26) than in the Letters of St Paul, with the exception of 2 Cor 13, 13 and Rm 15, 18-19, where St Paul endows the Holy Spirit with the character and action proper to a Person. Finally, speaking of the eschatology of our Authors, we may briefly state that St John assumes the vertical view of eschatology, while St Paul the horizontal one, with the Death and Resurrection of Christ as the central event (1 Tess 4, 14). The resulting differences in certain theological questions do not pertain to the substance of the problem, but are the result of a different point of view of the authors. Many factors had effected it, and among others the influence of the surroundings and cultures, the differences of interior and religious experience, and finally of temperament should be mentioned.